Interview with author Tim Young…
[Today’s interview is with new fiction writer Tim Young , author of the recently released Poisoned Soil, which I’ll review in this blog tomorrow. (If you can’t wait, you’ll also find the review at Bookpleasures.) I think you’ll find Tim to be an interesting fellow. He certainly shows there’s life beyond the Dilbert cube. Read on.]
1) Why, how, and when did you start writing? I only began writing a couple of years ago when I wrote the personal memoir The Accidental Farmers. It tells the story of how my wife and I chose to leave country club living and corporate America to devote ourselves to producing food for ourselves and others. Other than that, the extent of my writing had been for business purposes only. Unlike many authors, I never studied creative writing or even attempted to write fiction, not even a one-page short story. The first piece of fiction I attempted was Poisoned Soil.
2) Did you publish the first book you wrote? Yes, and it was The Accidental Farmers. At this point I’ve written or co-written four books, two of which are business books that were published by McGraw-Hill.
3) What is your biggest problem with the writing process. How do you tackle it? My biggest challenge is determining character motive. I’m drawn to a sub-genre that I seem bent on creating, something I refer to as Agrarian Suspense. The stories I visualize all relate to the confluence of social unrest (domestic terrorism, Occupy, etc.), the dangers of industrial food (GMO, factory farms, contamination) and the effect of our actions on the environment. Clearly those are real issues that sound a lot like non-fiction. My challenge as a fiction writer is to conceive a story based on very believable motives that is also thrilling and suspenseful. In the end, I want the stories to be a great read, of course, but I also want them to have resonance beyond the fictional world. Something the reader can take back to the real world with eyes that are a little more open.
4) Do you feel writing is something you need to do or want to do? I seem compelled to do it. I don’t have to do it, but I long to. Given my life as a farmer and artisan cheese maker, I have to find windows to write. For three months each year, we don’t milk the cows, and it was in that window last summer when I wrote and published Poisoned Soil. I’m starting on my next novel now and chomping at the bit to get going.
5) Have your personal experiences (or situations) influenced you creatively? If so, how? My personal experiences of trading in Dilbert’s cubicle for greener pastures has tremendously influenced my creativity. Otherwise, I don’t think I would be a writer at all. I mean, I don’t have a degree in English, I never studied writing and never attempted it before. The extent of my training in writing is having read (multiple times) On Writing by Stephen King. Living in the country the way we do has given me so freedom in terms of time to write, and the experiences I’ve had out here has given me ideas and motivation.
6) How much of your creative ability do you think is innate and how much is learned? Gosh, that’s a hard question to get right, but it feels to me that it is innate. As I mentioned, I haven’t taking any studies or read anything to learn the creativity.
7) What is the last book you read? What are you reading now? I’m reading 11.22.63 by Stephen King and loving it.
8) Whose writing inspires you the most and why? Probably my favorite piece of fiction is still To Kill a Mockingbird, but my favorite author is Stephen King. In both cases, I find an awful lot of realism in the writing. I know many people think of King as a horror writer, but what I like about his writing is that they all tell a story. They’re not about the horror or the fantasy, they’re about the people and the relationships they have.
9) Do you have a favorite genre? I love thrillers and suspense more than others, but also enjoy horror and historical fiction from time to time.
10) Should writers read in their genre? Should they be avid readers? I really feel that I’m the wrong person to answer that. One of the things that Stephen King stated emphatically in On Writing is that it’s critical for writers to read a lot and to write a lot if they want to succeed. I do neither. As mentioned, I never wrote a line of fiction before. Instead, I went straight to a full-blown novel. Moreover, I don’t read a lot…well, at least not whole books. I read articles and stories, but rarely sit down to read one whole book at a time. Instead, I’ll be somewhere in the midst of five-eight books at once.
Given King’s mandate to read/write a lot, naturally I was skeptical about my ability to be able to tell a story successfully. In the end, I decided that I didn’t want to study my genre too much for a simple reason; if everyone else was doing it and reading/writing a lot, I figured the writing would become formulaic and predictable. I thought that I would be better off by not following the tried and true method of others. Of course, that’s risky, but I didn’t begin writing to get rich or become wildly successful. I became a writer because I conceived a story and I wanted to tell it. With Poisoned Soil, the story idea was actually about a character named Ozzie. I wanted to tell his story and to let readers know what his life was like. Of course, I concluded that alone may not be interesting enough, so I dreamed up the other characters, the Cherokee influence, etc., after I began writing, in an effort to complete the story.
To answer your question, though, yes, I do think it’s valuable to read in their genre. But it’s equally, if not more, valuable to read very different things so that the writer doesn’t fall into the formula trap.
11) How do you find your plots? I don’t, really. I think of ideas and then visualize one or two characters. Then I start writing and see what happens. It’s scary, but I trust it will come out.
12) Are your characters based on real people? No, but they and my settings are based on real issues. I’m fortunate to have a diverse background in travel, business, sports, places I’ve lived, etc., so I have a lot to draw on in terms of understanding motivations and conceiving characters.
13) How do you name your characters? I think I’m pretty bad at it, actually. When I conceive a character a name usually pops up, so I go with it. I love character names like Kilgore Trout when I read those stories, but I don’t think you’ll see many of those in my novels. Given the realism of my fictional sub-genre, the names I select tend to be the all-American names you hear on the news.
14) Which comes first, plot or characters? The idea, or the what if scenario question as Stephen King says. For example, I’m aware of the increasing domestic tension in this country over the past decade. Everything from Occupy to the shootings in theaters to the Animal Liberation Front. I’m also aware of small farmers and how desperately they always need help on their farm. I found myself wondering what if domestic terrorists infiltrated small farms as apprentices with the intent of poisoning the food supply. This is the basis for my next novel, which I am now working on.
15) Any comments about writing dialog? Only to keep it real. For me, I REALLY get inside my characters heads and when they start talking, I just take dictation. If I catch myself (as author) trying to add to the dialog or write words for them, I walk away and come back later.
16) How do you handle POV? The stories I see are sweeping, so it feels to me like omniscient is the way to go. As author, I don’t see the story through the eyes of a character. Rather, I see it from above, as if flying over the United States. I see the characters, sometimes in different locales, and begin to zoom in. As I do, the characters also converge and come together at some place and time. At that point my hot air balloon has descended to just above them and I can see the drama unfold. That’s the perspective I try to share with the reader, though I definitely share the character’s emotional thoughts with the reader. An example of that was Angelica’s emotional miscarriage in Poisoned Soil.
17) Do you find background material for (research) your books? If so, how? First hand experience is where I have to start. I need to feel comfortable with the subject. From there, lots of web research to confirm motive, science, medical and procedure as needed.
18) What reference works do you use most? See above.
19) Do you use an agent? No.
20) Do you self-publish or traditionally publish? I have done both. With fiction, I prefer indie publishing right now (and explain why here as I don’t have the patience to wait a year or more for the book to be published.
21) What are your most effective marketing techniques? The adage that it pays to have a platform is true. I’m fortunate to have built a sizable following to a podcast and Facebook page, as well as an opt-in email list of 10,000. Then again, those followers found us for farming reasons and most aren’t interested in books I write, so I have to work hard to find readers just like any other indie author.
22) Do you release trade paperbacks or eBooks? Both, always at the same time.
23) What do you think of publishing services like Amazon, Smashwords, etc? I think Amazon is great. I realize others may think differently, but Amazon has made it easy to publish. Of course, when it’s easy it means that anyone can and will publish, so it will become more and more difficult for readers to find quality writing. That underscores the importance of cultivating a fan base and begging for reviews, as those HONEST reviews will help lure in new readers.
24) What is your favorite place to eat-out? Sushi!
25) What is your favorite drink? Red wine. When I was in the corporate world, it would be something like Silver Oak cabernet. Now, it’s any sub-$10 bottle of cab.
26) What other interests do you have besides writing? Farming, cheese making, time camping or enjoying nature with my wife and daughter—we have lots of dogs and animals.
27) What was the last movie you went to see? Hunger Games. Loved it.
28) What would I find in your refrigerator right now? Homemade everything…butter, cheese and raw milk from grass fed cows, grassfed beef and pork, veggies from our garden, homemade pickles, homemade mayonnaise, etc. [Note from Steve: I’m salivating.]
29) If you could trade places with someone for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be? Wouldn’t even consider it. I have the best life of anyone I know.
30) What is your favorite (song) and why? Piece of music? I don’t have one…I love lots of favorite music. When I write I listen to everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Metallica to Mozart. Anything but country!
In libris libertas….
[Remember: See my review of Poisoned Soil tomorrow. If you enjoyed this post, support this blog: buy some of my books.]
